problem with nfs install

[Greg MATTHEWS]

> 
> I tend to use url (e.g.)
> 
> url --url http://install.dulug.duke.edu/pub/linux/dulug-7.2/i386

not sure our webmaster would like all that on the server! i may have to set up 
my own.

> (which won't work outside of duke, but you get the idea).  Note that the
> i386 path above points to the ENTIRE i386 image, not just the Redhat
> directory.  I think that you should have used something like:
> 
>   cp -a /mnt/cdrom /export/rh-7.3

i think i had the syntax right before... this will create a directory called 
cdrom in /export/rh-7.3

> and exported /export/rh-7.3 so that the client can mount it (or better
> yet, copy it to your web server so that you can access it with the
> browser of your choice and then use the url form above, since NFS is a
> real hassle with permissions, security, and even performance all at
> issue) and then
> 
> nfs --server 128.16.160.102 --dir /export/rh-7.3
> 
> should work.
> 
> As to what's wrong -- the kickstart boot process installs a small root
> partition on a loopback ramdisk, I believe from the images in
> RedHat/base.  It then makes your filesystems according to whatever
> recipe you put in the kickstart file, mounts them, bootstraps temp space
> onto them for rpm's, and starts getting rpm's and installing rpm's as
> fast as it can.

no the RedHat directory was definitely there in fact i simply followed the 
instructions in the readme on the cd for copying the relevant files for a 
network installation this creates the RedHat directory and all its 
subdirectories. the structure of the two exported versions looks identical, 
its just that one works and the other doesnt!

> I imagine that this is failing because it cannot find the images and
> install the root filesystem onto the ramdisk because the path it expects
> is one level deeper than what you are giving it -- it is looking in
> ./RedHat/base (relative to your mount) but there IS no RedHat/base
> because you mounted RedHat directly (so that there is just ./base).

see above

> Hope this helps

thanks for trying.. i'm wondering if i've mounted the partition that i'm using 
for the 7.3 stuff in a way that is messing with the nfs exporting, altho the 
nfs server doesnt complain in any way and i can mount them both from a node 
that is already installed.

GREG